Licence To Kill

Licence to Kill (1989)

Runtime: 133 minutes

Directed by: John Glen

Starring: Timothy Dalton, Robert Davi, Carey Lowell, Talisa Soto, Anthony Zerbe

From: MGM

Here is a new Bond review from me, as I actually never reviewed this, as the last time I saw this was many years ago. I am not sure why, as I enjoyed it then and I enjoy it now. Next week I'll review again the Daniel Craig movies on Letterboxd and I would have seen all of them again before watching SPECTRE on the big screen. I explain my enjoyment in my Letterboxd review below:

Here is the last Bond movie before SPECTRE that I am reviewing anew here, as I never put up even a super-brief review of it when I first joined the site almost 3 years ago, as the last time I saw this was quite a few years ago. Why I did not watch this again sooner I cannot adequately explain, as I enjoyed it back then and I enjoyed it now. I understand those that are “eh” on it, whether it's due to Timothy Dalton's serious portrayal of 007 or how this contrasts with most of the series in how it's dark and a ruthless tale of Bond getting revenge; Lord knows I personally think that this is far better than Quantum of Solace, another story where 007 is looking for retaliation; wait until I review that again sometime next week and I have a lot to say about that.

As for Licence to Kill, the plot is that Bond is in Key West, attending the wedding of Felix Leiter (or, as I like to think, the dude who currently has the codename of Felix Leiter); right before that they bust a huge drug dealer named Sanchez. He uses his connections to escape and Leiter is maimed... and the wife is killed. As 007 knows both and he said that he's worked with Leiter often, he wants to take down Sanchez; he gets suspended from the service but he's all YOLO and he's on the run.

This is both the first and last when it comes to the series in various ways. This is the final film for quite a few of the cast & crew involved in the franchise for a long time... Maurice Binder, John Glen (doing all the movies in the 80's and that quintet are all different from each other; whether you think that's good or bad when it comes to the director is up to you), writer Richard Maibaum, editor John Glover, and even Albert R. Broccoli... and of course Dalton in the lead; as I have said in other reviews, he never got a fair shake and due to circumstances beyond his control he was given only two shots at it. As others have noted, the summer of '89 was massive with such things as Batman, the third Indiana Jones, Lethal Weapon, and such non-action movies as Honey, I Shrunk the Kids and Look Who's Talking. This movie got lost among all that chaos.

However, this was the first PG-13 Bond (and it almost got an R due to some gruesome moments) and it seems more serious due to how there were some big R-rated action flicks that were released the past few years and they raised the bar for spectacle... I am talking about such things as Die Hard, Lethal Weapon, Predator, and Robocop, nevermind what they were doing in Hong Kong. This is not as great as those Hollywood classics, but there's nothing wrong with that as hey, they're classics and it's quite difficult to be as glorious as those motion pictures. Plus, there are plenty of people who aren't big fans of the Daniel Craig version of Bond... which I do understand; however, I understand that many more did not care for the character having a harder edge in 1989; I guess it was just too early to try such a thing. At least the PG-13 rating was permanent after this, as it was the time to do so.

As for the story, I was definitely entertained by it; the fact that I've been in Key West, Florida (where the opening act takes place) a few times before in my life does help but it is a pretty unique and awesome place. They then moved on to a fictional Central American country, which was Mexico in disguise. Those scenic views were appreciated by me, and also appropriate for a storyline where the villain is a drug dealer; I know it wasn't too original by the time the film came out but it still worked for me.

The cast, I definitely enjoyed it. Dalton was pretty rad but it was the familiar faces from the various action and/or B movies I've seen through the years that made me happy. There's Robert Davi as Sanchez, Anthony Zerbe, “that guy” Frank McRae, Anthony Starke, Everett McGill, Priscilla Barnes, Pedro Armendariz Jr. (it was especially nice seeing him as his dad had a key role in From Russia With Love), Don Stroud, Grand L. Bush and Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa. I also knew Carey Lowell and Talisa Soto from elsewhere. I know there are plenty who don't like the performances of those gals or the characters they played, but I thought that they were fine. As for Wayne Newton... I'll never not think of him as a wacky human being due to him being Wayne Newton and an over the top Las Vegas performer. But he was also fine in a role where his character was named Professor Joe Butcher, who was actually a (typical) sleazy televangelist. Oh, and there was someone who became much more famous later, and that was Benicio Del Toro in a supporting role.

It's pretty ridiculous and yet I will not complain with that. There are some quality stunts and big action scenes and I certainly did dig the massive explosions or the death-defying moments. Again, it wasn't quite as astounding as some of the crazy things you saw in other films of the time and yet it was still thrilling to watch. And not to give too much away but seeing the most of Q in the entire franchise is always a good thing.

Not a good thing were the opening credit and closing credit songs from Gladys Knight and Patti LaBelle; both ladies are cool and all and yet the tunes are meh. The score from Michael Kamen was typical of what he did among the other big late 80's extravaganzas he composed; I just am not sure if it fit here. Still, this is a flick that will always be enjoyed by me. When there are obvious allusions to such thing as Yojimbo and the ronin genre... I won't wait so long before seeing it again, let me put it that way.